A yacht race from Hong Kong to Daya Bay in the Mainland will take place on 27 October 2016 (Thursday). About 60 yachts are expected to participate in the race.The race will start in the vicinity of Steep Island, Sai Kung at 1000 hours on 27 October 2016.

Masters, coxswains and persons-in-charge of vessels navigating in the vicinity should proceed with caution, giving practical consideration to those contestants. Compliance with the provisions of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 is mandatory.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has issued guidelines on the dangers of using weighted heaving lines when transferring mooring lines to tugs and shore linespersons.In its Marine Notice No.18/2016, it states that it has received a number of complaints about incidents involving the use of monkey fists on heaving lines that contain weights, resulting in near misses to personnel on tugs and potential damage wheelhouse windows.

During the berthing of a vessel at Hay Point, metal objects in lieu of a monkey’s fist were attached to the messenger line for securing to tug towlines. This metal object landed heavily on the tug’s deck, narrowly missing the deck crew.

In another incident, a tug attending the berthing of a ship at Newcastle had a heaving line thrown by the ship’s crew which narrowly missed the Engineer and Deckhand. A heavy weight, consisting of a large rusty shackle, was used on this occasion.

A tug attending the berthing of a ship at Dalrymple Bay had a weighted monkey fist land heavily on the deck of the tug narrowly missing the deck crew.

Some weights are dipped in paint to increase the weight. This practice is also dangerous.

AMSA recommends that all ships crews are cautioned about the dangers of inappropriately weighting heaving lines. Owners and Operators are encouraged to ensure proper procedures for heaving lines are included in the Safety Management System. The continued cooperation of all owners, operators and masters is appreciated in order to avoid future incidents of this nature.

The tariff unit used to calculate charges for towage services at Tersus, TUKS and the General Port at Bontang has been adjusted.With effect from 15 October 2016, the towage service tariff unit has been changed from “per vessel that has been towed per hour” to “per unit towage vessel per hour”.

This change does not affect the vessel service tariff charged for harbour, berth, pilotage, towage and fresh water.

For further details and information about operations at Indonesian ports contact PT Andhika GAC Indonesia at shipping.indonesia@gac.com